Biancani (Giuseppe, SJ) Sphaera Mundi seu Cosmographica, first edition, title in red and black, one folding engraved plate, some staining from glue? along join line to verso, woodcut head-, tail-pieces and initials, numerous woodcut diagrams, of which one with volvelle (2F2), spotting, upper hinge nearly broken, contemporary vellum, toned with a few small stains, lacking ties, [Riccardi I, 127; Carli-Favaro 83], 4to, Bologna, Geronimo Tamburini, 1620.

⁂ This rare Jesuit treatise on astronomy brings the ideas of Christopher Clavius SJ (1538-1612) up to date, incorporating the more recent thought of Galileo, Kepler and others. Published in the midst of the wider, increasingly polemical, debate between the Jesuits and Galileo, Biancani, as both a member of the Society and an affectionate student of Galileo (from his time in Padova), walked a fine line expressing not only his enthusiasm for the advances being made in astronomy but particularly support for Galileo's stance regarding mountains on the moon, a phenomenon that Clavius doubted right up to his death. Contrary to some interpretations, so sympathetic to Galilean thinking was Biancani believed to be, that none of his remaining writings passed the censorship of his superiors. In this treatise Biancani was also the first to employ the word telescope exclusively and repeatedly in an extended work, instigating its general acceptance.